"So, uh, I heard your computer wouldn't start because it's missing a hard drive. This is very common in our neighborhood. You're lucky though, I happen to be fully bonded and certified at returning computers without hard drives to their normal working states... "

A girl in my dormitory dropped her computer and destroyed her hard drive. Being the CS guru that I am, I assured her I could fix it... sans harddrive. She had already sent the Harddrive back to the manufacturer. There was now a gaping hole in the bottom of her laptop where her harddrive used to be. I told her I could STILL get it to work.

"But there's no harddrive!"
"Don't worry, I can fix it."

So I take her USB drive, load DAMN SMALL LINUX on it, plug it into her computer, and voila! You should have seen the look on her face when I booted up Mozilla and had Facebook running on a computer without a harddrive.
The media likes to portray us geeks as sorcerers, and sometimes, you can see why.

I've taken machines from boxes-o'-shrinkwrapped-parts to running XP in under an hour or actual work (I wouldn't count the two
"click once then go away for half an hour" steps as billable work unless they failed for some reason on the first try and I
needed to babysit it). I'd feel bad about trying to charge a full hour for just that part...

And as for the file recovery, you generally have two situations - Either the old HDD works just fine (except for a broken Windo

seems like a lot of work for 50 bucks
I've taken machines from boxes-o'-shrinkwrapped-parts to running XP in under an hour or actual work (I wouldn't count the two
"click once then go away for half an hour" steps as billable work unless they failed for some reason on the first try and I
needed to babysit it). I'd feel bad about trying to charge a full hour for just that part...
And as for the file recovery, you generally have two situations - Either the old HDD works just fine (except for a broken Windows
install) and you just need to copy it over to the new one, or no one has any shot of recovering it. So another hour, tops.

Err... did you read the article? I think the parent poster was referring to the work of breaking into the realty office and removing the hard drive in the first place.
The thief didn't have to recover any data, all he needed to do was simply reinstall the hard drive he stole, but going to the trouble of breaking in and stealing it would be a lot of hassle for just $50. (of course, that was not the case - he charged $2000)

That is why you make your money selling the "full package" treatment.I take those couple of hundred bucks worth of parts and sell it for $500 and have customers sending their family and friends to get boxes built from me. Why? Because when you get an XP PC from me you get a "just flip the switch and go" solution.

First I find out what they are going to use it for and tailor the hardware to their requirements. Then when they power it on the find it has antivirus and spybot already installed and set to do the

And without coming up with some technobabble that the data was still present in the interface buffer and you just need to subject the system to your multiphasic polydynamic transducer to get it to flush the buffer to the new drive to recover all the files.

Hey does that mean that Geordi was actually working with the Borg? Seems like a bit of routine. The Borg attack. He modifies the deflector dish to do something clever. The Borg leave. I bet he deliberately caused all those problems with the holodeck too.

Well the problem is that the people probably turned on the "appliance" and it didn't work. So they called their repair guy who said he could recover the data for them. He was able to scam them because they didn't know how the computer worked.

come on now, this was a very intelligent computer owner, he called the computer manufacturer and asked if data could be recovered from a missing drive and they said no.

The "repair man" probably did this to a few hundred other computer users before getting caught.

Let me tell you a story. Some friends had a laptop which the husband said was running slow and that was a problem. I told him it was most like Windows XP and it just needed to be reinstalled because that's pretty common. He did nothing and about 2 w

There are the scam artists, who take a 'broken' computer, reformat the drive, spend five minutes starting a non-legal Windows install, and charge $500. And possibly with some imaginary added hardware costs tacked on too. Person gets a computer they're going to get spyware on six months and it will be messed again. Usually they don't resort to deliberately breaking computers, but who knows.

And then there are the legit repair centers, who tend to take the easy way out, but at least they are honest. Most of the time the easy way is 'replace the computer' so people lose their data, though.

Then there are the good guys, who sit down, don't reformat the drive, work for two hours installing AVG and Ad-Aware, give an hour of instruction during that, and think it's worth maybe $20 and a Coke from their fridge.

All you good guys out there, start charging more. Honestly. You are not charging for work, you are charging for knowledge.

Or think of it this way: The alternative to what you're doing is requires $200 of (legit) repairs or a $300 new computer. You can, indeed, change them $100 for that.

Your time is not worth what you think it's worth. For you, half of it is a game, and the other half is satisfaction at a job well done, but you don't set the value for your time.

Your time is worth what they think it's worth, and I assure you, you're a hell of a lot cheaper than the alternatives. (And provide better value, considering that half the time you're sitting fixing stuff you're providing a computer class in how to not have this happen again.)

Very very true... and you'll get high praise, recommendations to others, and repeat business. Many people would be surprised at how taking the time to explain how to prevent a problem, or how something happened (in terms a customer can understand) goes a long way when combined with honest, good service.

Well, it's a market. So you and your clients come to a mutually acceptable value on your time. The issue at hand, though badly expressed, is still true; geeks have a habit of severely undervaluing our time and knowledge.

Its the difference in thinking about it like a nerd person and thinking about it like a business person, then. All I quibble with is your assertion, correct from one perspective, that one should think about what the client is willing to spend on what you are giving them.

"Your time is worth what they think it's worth, and I assure you, you're a hell of a lot cheaper than the alternatives. (And provide better value, considering that half the time you're sitting fixing stuff you're providing a computer class

This reminds me of neighbour tech support. They had a computer that wasn't working, they'd called MS and had hung up when they wanted Â£50. I went around and (eventually) worked out that a capacitor had blown on the graphics card, something an MS helpline could never have worked out. I told them which graphics card to get as a replacement and went home without charging a penny. Was pleasantly surprised to get a voucher for Â£20 through the letterbox.

he tells me his computer guru neighbor fixed his computer because it had a bad hard disk and now everything is nice a fast again.

Did you test the hard drive? Your friend may well have had a good drive, and only needed a windows reinstall. The neighbor may have tested the drive, or came across bad sectors in the process of cloning the drive. Drives are so inexpensive compared to the labor required to reinstall a second time, that it's silly not to replace them if there's any sign of trouble.

The crime's in Bethlehem and it probably won't be making any other papers either. And the construction is usually on 22 (and has been since about 1950) but that tends to back up 309... another story entirely.

Rated you up because you're from the LV, and I gotta support my droogs. The best part about it is that its one less technician to compete with. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Speaking of which, I've got to call them tonight and offer up my repair services.

This is why you'll sometimes see murder suspects charged with 1st degree, 2nd degree, and manslaughter for one dead body. It gives the jury the option to choose which charge they think actually applies based on the evidence.

Theft is taking something for your own that legally belongs to someone else.

Receiving stolen property is selling or attempting to sell property that you know or believe to be stolen. If you're in the business of buying/selling used goods, you must take due diligence to ensure that either the item isn't stolen, or that the person that sold it to you can be found if need be.

He is being charged in the alternative. Either he stole the hard drive himself, in which case, he would be a thief, or he receive the stolen hard drive from a third-party culprit, in which case, he would be a receiver of stolen merchandise.

He should have replaced the hard drive with a blank formatted hard drive. Then when the realty office tried to start the system and it wouldn't boot, take the computer back to his office or shop and retrieve the "lost" data.

Look, if the guy was smart enough to think of something like that - he undoubtedly wouldn't be doing stupid stuff like stealing a HDD and trying to sell it back to the folks he stole it from for 2 large.

Based on the comments in the article, he'd already done it at least once and it worked. The only reason it didn't work this time is that the owner of the company called the manufacturer (probably Dell) to ask if the guy could recover the data based on the error message. They said "no way" and the owner called the cops. They checked the camera and found dumb-asses car with his company info on it. Yea, he was an idiot but it did work.

If the on-drive controller of an IDE/ATA drive fails completely, it can look to the interface on the motherboard as if the drive is completely missing, too. It's rare these days, but I'm guessing it's still possible.

We used to have to make up WD Diag error codes to get Dell to give warranty RMAs on drives that worked one day and then just couldn't even be detected. The replacement drives worked fine hooked to the same port with the same cable. The drives were just... dead. No read/write errors, no SMART err

I am planning on stealing Hordware/software/company secrets/customers from my company/boss/girlfriend(mother)/government, but I don't want to get caught because that's bad. What's my best course of action and is there anything I should look out for?

I think the comments are good too. "yeah, he did the same thing at another company, we just didnt report him. he will be reported now." and the link to his meetup page [meetup.com], "am looking for a new way to improve my business"

Reminds me of the (somewhat) local story I read this morning. A man shop lifted a bunch of clothes from a department store, on is way out he stopped at the front desk to fill out a job application. Sure enough he listed his real information. When the cops showed up he was busy putting away all the stuff he had just walked out with.

He beeped on his way through the door but still was allowed to leave (those things beep so often most employees probably ignore them now). If he didn't give them his personal information, he probably would've gotten away with it.

A man shop lifted a bunch of clothes from a department store, on is way out he stopped at the front desk to fill out a job application.

Both the text shop lifted and on is way out indicate that he left the store. IE, if I go into a department store, pick up a bunch of clothes, fill out an application, then put the clothes back on the shelf, I will not have shoplifted.

Additionally, the text putting away is slightly more likely to indicate "to put in a new location" rather than "to return to the original location", and had just walked out with fairly strongly indicates that he has left the store.
I disagree that the original post l

No, you just rolled a 1 on your reading comprehension check. It made perfect sense.

Man takes clothes from rack. On way to exit he stops to fill out job app. Heads for exit. Stolen clothes beep at door. Employee lets him leave. Afterwords, employee realizes he was dumb, calls cops, sends them to address listed on job application. Cops get to his house while he's putting stolen clothes in his closet.

Wow, so Slashdot is trying to be snarky like Fark these days. It's kind of like that one kids dad who picks him up at school wearing baggy pants and a hoodie. It not only doesn't work, it's embarrassing for those who have to see it.

When I hear stories like this, (and they are legion) I have to wonder if the tech was really that stupid, or did he believe that a lack of computer expertise in his customers meant they were that stupid. Speaking as a geek, I've noticed a tendency among a (fortunately small) subset of geeks to believe that having a deep expertise in one area makes them generally more competent in everything, including areas completely out of their expertise, like, say, crime.

When I was in college, two roommates apparently had such a misunderstanding, which led to a "foolproof plan" to pay off their student loans and retire in geek luxury. Their criminal career lasted a mere 24 hours. I still have the front page showing them spread-eagled against a cop car.

Sometimes I wonder if extreme geeks -- meaning not the truly hyper-intelligent, but the self-sequestered wannabes -- lacking normal social interaction, have less of an understanding of basic morals than the rest of us.

Sigh, alright. Let's call them Moe and Larry. I learned the details later, partly from the police report and partly from Moe when he got bailed out and came back to the apartment for his stuff.

Larry worked in a big warehouse-type store, the kind where you pay for your purchase in one part of the store and then take your receipt to the stockroom entrance to receive your merchandise. Moe and Larry thought it was a really stupid system that just begged to be abused.

Maybe not even most caught criminals. Some are, indeed, caught after a lot of actual work tracking them down.

I was just saying 'assuming no one else knows what they are doing' is a fairly large failure mode of criminals.

Especially amateur, first-time criminals, who often fail to consider what basic security the victim could have. Like threatening people with a knife from ten feet away...if they have a gun, or even mace, that's rather stupid beha

When I was in college, two roommates apparently had such a misunderstanding, which led to a "foolproof plan" to pay off their student loans and retire in geek luxury. Their criminal career lasted a mere 24 hours. I still have the front page showing them spread-eagled against a cop car.

Hey, stop teasing! Tell us the story - what was their plan? That sounds like it might be more interesting than this story.

It's amazing how many people that know something better than me--say, fixing a car or being a web developer--assume that they know everything better than me and everyone else in the world. Those people are the most dangerous stupid and if they don't have morals will often land in jail.